2011/10/24 - Tree Hanging

Around us is ice, snow and ash. Ahead, is the pillar of fire that belches forth from the volcano. We head off with our new found trollhunds.

We come across a stagnant pool, in which is struggling a golden hart towards which is slinking a wolf. I charge aroud the pool, whilst the others through rocks at the wolf. Before I get there, the wolf turns to look at us with burning red eyes, then turns and flees. The hart manages to get itself out of the mud and bounds off into the distance.

We travel a bit more through the blasted landscape. We come across a large black horse scraping at the ground. Caradoc goes over to it, making soothing noises, and notices that it's hooves are backwards. It turns and leaps into the nearest pool, vanishing under the water. Near the ground where it was scraping is some grass. As Caradoc examines the ground, he finds the body of a long buried woman.

A bit more digging shows that she was staked down here. Whilst the squires are chopping down wood to burn her, they discover another similar body. Both were probably thralls, one young one older. A bigger search of the area finds another 5 similar bodies. We burn the bodies.

As dusk is approaching, we move off a short distance so we can view the burial area, and make camp.

In the middle of the night, I am woken to the sounds of battle. Caradoc seems to be fighting a pile of slimy mud in the vague shape of a norseman with a fleshy face. A group of us attack it with weapons, managing not to hit Caradoc whilst we smash it apart. Apparently it is a Huug according to Sigurn. It is woven from the dreams of some sorcerer, and the face that it wore was the face of the sorcerer.

The following day we come to the edge of wasted farmland. A group of a dozen men come out towards the bog. They are armed with pitchforks and spears, led by a guy with a big axe. They have a young woman with them.

Sigurn talks to them. They are taking the woman to sacrifice her to appease a wizard who has been causing trouble. He is possibly a Cimbri, one of the witch people. They do things with the land and storms. The guy with the axe, Cynewulf, says there was a storm in which a ship made of bone and hide was driven ashore. They burnt it, and have had wizard trouble since then.

Cynewulf leads us towards the sea where the ship was found. There is a huge salt marsh that stretches along the coast. There is a huge dark pool at the bottom of some cliffs, where there used to be a farm. This is where the storm hit. The cliffs are not easy to climb, but there are some rough steps carved into the rock face at one point.

Heading down, there are salt encrusted bones of men. There are eelly things in the water. As we approach, a large number writhe towards us in a hungry type of way. A couple burrow their way into me. There is much grappling and bleeding, but eventually they are pulled out.

Looking into the pool, there is a light down below, and bubbles.

We have a plan to through a poisoned animal into the pool, to get rid of the leeches. The villagers have a sheep, and they know of a wise woman who lives in an ash tree who may know about poisons. The old woman lives amongst the roots of the tree. She is gnarled, thin and old. She says that we will also need a special sword, which has been forged by Wayland the Smith. It is good for killing wizards and giants and dragons. It has a powerful density, and has been used to kill Kings, and to keep open the mouth of Fenris. It is called Bright Death. It is a sword of the North, and should not be taken outside of these lands.

She offers to tell us where the sword is, and how to get past its guardians, if one of us is willing to take her as his wife at the next Midwinter. Caradoc volunteers. There is much haggling and discussion of details, and eventually she agrees to settle for Caradoc to hang on the tree for a night and a day, and to tell her what he sees.

We stand vigil, whilst Caradoc hangs and has visions. Once he is let down, the wise woman pulls a raven's feather from his mouth, ties it to a bead via a thread and gives it to us to use as a guide to the sword.